Page 65 of Rejected By a Wolf

“My parents don’t.”

Antonio crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to explain further. He kept quiet, insistent that she would be the one to break the silence. Why was she being so tight-lipped about this?

She eventually let out a sigh, as if in resignation. “My parents are enslaved out in the world somewhere. Iknowit. How could I waste a second on life’senjoymentswhile they’re suffering?” Finally, she willed herself to face him, her eyes sparkling with both hope and purpose. “Once I win The Heart of Aphrodite I can finally end their suffering, and Iwillend their suffering.”

Antonio hissed through his teeth. Her unwavering determination was haunting. Winning The Elaron Games meant everything to her. Yet Antonio planned to remove her from this tournament as soon as it was possible to do so, and he was resolute in this decision. She wouldn’t fight in that arena a second longer than necessary.

An unsettling realization hit him.She’s never going to forgive me.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Antonio Payne

Antonio struggled to keep steady. He didn’t want Sophia to hate him, but he’d much rather endure her hatred than witness her death.

“Have you tried searching for another way to save them?”

“All. My. Life.” She gritted her teeth. “I was relentless in my training because I wanted to be ready for the day I found them. I told myself that the next time I faced Artem’s horde of vampires I’d be a force to be reckoned with. I wouldn’t be a weak fey again.” The purpose that lit her eyes a moment ago faded, the corners of her lips dipping into a frown. “If I was ready the day those bloodsuckers attacked us, I might’ve been able to save them.” She looked down to the ground, her mind seeming to drift away.

“You don’t blame yourself for what happened to them, do you?”

“Of course I do! When our village was attacked I tried to help my parents, but I couldn’t! I didn’t know the first thing about fighting. None of us did! We were defenseless, and because we were so ignorant about the unnatural world our species was decimated. Indays.”

Yet she lived.

It just occurred to Antonio that he didn’t know anything about the day she lost her family. “How did you make it out?” When no one else did.

She laughed, though it seemed forced. “Because, while growing up, I decided not to follow the rules I was given. I left my village all the time, even though it was prohibited to do so. Fey didn’t wander beyond the protection barriers surrounding our village, it was considered too dangerous. I guess I was too stubborn to listen.”

“A trait you’ve never lost.” She was as stubborn as they came.

“I guess I didn’t.” She seemed to be fighting back a smile. “I usually visited a nearby human town and just…. watched. I enjoyed watching them. I thought their lives were so much more interesting than mine. Then, one day, I bumped into Casper. I was constantly warned about thedangerousbeings of the unnatural world growing up. Everything I was taught told me to run from him that day… but my curiosity got the best of me. So we became friends. In secret, of course. I would’ve been on a twenty-four hour watch if anyone knew I was hanging out with an elf behind everyone’s backs.”

Antonio’s fists clenched at his sides. He couldn’t control his jealousy for Casper no matter how hard he tried. But he remained silent, too taken by her story to stop her.

“Casper saved my life the night we were attacked. He split me to Elaron and I’ve been here ever since.”

Shit. Maybe Antonio needed to tamper down his jealousy toward Casper and amp up his thankfulness toward the elf. It sounded like Sophia was alive and here right now because of him.

“Why didn’t he split your parents out too?”

“He wouldn’t have been able to recognize them. He’d never met them before, and I was too injured to talk. I couldn’t even fucking tell him they were the two half-dead fey laying at myfeet.” She dug her teeth into her lower lip, clearly agitated. “By the time I could speak again it was too late. He went back to my village to find them but their bodies were gone, most likely dragged off by the vampires who turned them.”

She had been too injured to talk? What did those damn vampires do to her? His beast threatened to rise, rage consuming him.

“I’ll have those bastards’ heads for what they did to you.”

“At leastIlived. At leastIwasn’t turned into a vampire. I can’t say the same for the others. You know, sometimes I wish Casper hadn’t split me out of there. If he hadn’t I’d be with my parents right now, wherever that may be. No one has any idea where Artem keeps his fey blood slaves.”

“Don’t ever think that way again,”he growled. How could she say something like that? “You can find a way to save them now. If you were enslaved along with them you’d be just as helpless. At least you have a shot at helping them from out here.”

“Yeah, I you’re probably right. I guess it was just hard for me. Other than Casper the only unnatural species I was ever around were the fey. Then I was thrown into this entirely new world filled with all these unnatural beings I had only read about in horror stories. And I never saw another fey again.”

The reality of her situation slowly sunk in, altering Antonio’s mind for good.

Sophia didn’t only lose her family the day her village was attacked, she lost everyone and everything she had ever known.

Antonio grieved endlessly, nearly giving up on life, the years after he lost Giselle. But Giselle was only one person.

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